In the latter half of the last century, Hollywood got pretty imaginative guessing what awaited us in the near-future, with ray guns or hoverboards or some other gadget that is still, in 2014, years or decades away from even having the chance of becoming commonplace.

Some of these films, like 1989’s “Back to the Future Part II” (which depicted flying cars as a popular form of transportation in the year 2015) took an optimistic approach, while others (take 1982’s grim “Blade Runner”) held a more dystopian view — as was certainly the case with one of the most ground-breaking sci-fi films of that era, 1984’s “The Terminator.”

It was on one of the ‘classic’ movie channels a week or so back and I tuned in for kicks and grins. It is much easier to believe the passage of time looking at the way people dressed (thank goodness there are few pictures of me from that time period) and the guns used in the movie.

While some guns have maintained their value; how they are used has changed considerably.

This Smith & Wesson Model 15 no longer is representative of the duty gun most law enforcement officers carry. Some firearms like the Franchi S.P.A.S 12 fell victim to the ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban of 1994 and problems with the safeties.
Still looking back at the movie, it was and is one of the best movies that got people interested in shooting. Yeah, it was cheesy and hokey but it did show ordinary people handling firearms and doing okay. It showed interesting firearms and accessories; like the laser sight and the UZI.

I was able to avoid buying any guns based on the movie (or any other movie for that matter); mostly because I was in the Air Force and poor at the time.

So the question is, did this movie or one like it influence you to start shooting or purchase any firearms?

From January through August of last year, 1,097,392 requests were submitted, compared with 909,050 for that same period in 2014.

And these numbers don’t tell the full story either; people could be making multiple purchases for each check, remember the check is done on the person, not the product. The media seems to be desperate to make it appear fewer people are purchasing firearms; perhaps in the hopes of having fewer people line up to buy later in the year. Well, it is sort of true. Less people are buying firearms this year through the retail or licensed dealers. But that is relative to the year before. Take a look at the list below.

This are the number of N.I.C.S checks conducted year year – notice the huge increase ? Almost twice as high from the “Pre-Obama” years. Wonder why the media and the antis don’t report that. Why they don’t mention the year after year increase?

It is almost as if they want people to think no one else still feels the need/desire to keep purchasing firearms.

Our gun club also helps out with several area school clubs; I think we are up to 3 – maybe 4 clubs using our fields for practice. So it is good to see a positive report on the subject.

One of the things not mentioned in the report is how much family involvement goes on behind the scenes. Just like band or other school activities, it takes a considerable number of parents to make it work. We see a large number of parents helping out, working with the kids and learning about the sport.

…just to recover from the weekend. Its been a while since I’ve had a weekend this good. Tiring but good.

Saturday was another wedding; this time my” niece” Samantha and her new hubby Jason. Great ceremony and good times but made for another long day.

Then up on Sunday for church and –prepare yourselves — a few hours of actual shooting goodness !

Yes, your humble scribe remembered that he can actually use the range for target practice. My buddy Cliff was in town for Sam’s wedding and we spent about 3 hours running a pistols and our .22 rifles through their paces. Good news is both of us can still shoot even though some rust shows on the skills.

I would have taken pictures, prepared reviews (shot his Ruger 10/22 for example) but was having too much fun just shooting. Maybe next time.

If you’re a woman, and you’re licensed to shoot, then your skills are in hot demand.

The market for female gun instructors is booming as more women want to learn to shoot — both for self defense and for sport, said Tina Wilson-Cohen, who owns She Can Shoot, an all-women firearm and self-defense training business in Fairfax, Va.

…

The National Rifle Association, noting the burgeoning market opportunity, is trying to boost its ranks of 8,000 NRA-certified female instructors, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.

In 2009, the NRA organized 280 “Women On Target” training clinics nationwide, and 8,000 women signed up. In 2013, the group held 450 clinics for 12,000 women

Yep, CNN’s financial pages posting about the demand for firearm instruction and instructors…..just a few years after everyone in the gun blog community discussed it.

Hidden deep in the article is a really salient point:

Now, Babes with Bullets conducts 24 camps a year (a mix of three-day intensives and one-day sessions), and has over 4,000 alumni ranging from 24 to 74 years old. “80% of them have never touched a gun,” said Ferns. “They’re professional women, real estate agents, nurses and young divorcees.”

Just one data point but probably very reflective of the overall trend; new people learning to shoot in large numbers. Kinda lets the air out of the antis claims support and popularity of firearms is declining, eh.

Okay…middle of the day; no apparent attempt to determine if the house was empty; dude just breaks a window and starts climbing in.

The home owner protecting at least his property; if not his life investigates the noise and sees the criminal breaking in. Shoots and kills the criminal breaking into his home. That is how it went down.

What will continue to go down is the police will finish their investigation, the District Attorney will present the case to a grand jury, and they’ll decide to bring charges or not. Still a costly process but one I don’t expect to end with charges brought. Especially not with the mom saying “yeah, this sounds like something he would do”.

But let’s turn the clock back and ask the antis what would they rather have the home owner do?

A.) Call the police and wait?
B.) Run out his house, leaving possessions – including a firearm behind for a criminal to steal and use for illegal drugs?C.) Fight him hand to hand after the criminal has gotten inside the house?
D.) Meekly stand there and let an unknown person with unknown intentions do what ever he wants to him?

3of those possibilities would have increased, not decreased, crime. One would still be violence but puts the home owner at a disadvantage. Either not used to physical violence, due to age, etc.

In contrast, the home owner’s actions not only stopped this crime but put an end to a long (some said 18 page rap sheet) career of crime. Based on the recommendations of the anti-rights cultists; it is almost as if they want MORE crime to occur not less.